Implants are widely used in dental surgery for restoration of the jaw anatomy. Implants can be used, for example, for anchoring a dental prosthesis such as an artificial tooth to the jawbone of a patient. Various types of dental implants are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,179,088, 6,991,461, 6,863,530, 6,227,860, 5,951,288, 5,931,674, 5,863,200, 5,470,230, 5,417,569, and 4,531,916, all of the above references being incorporated by reference herein.
A typical dental implant has a generally cylindrical shaped body which is mounted into a hole pre-drilled in the jawbone. The implant can be threadedly fitted or press fitted into the hole. The prosthesis can then be fixedly mounted to the implant secured within the bone. However, it is possible for the implant to loosen if, for example, the hole is or becomes too big or is improperly drilled. This can result in loss of the implant or prosthesis and require a subsequent operation to remedy the situation. The present disclosure describes a dental implant which can be deploy radially outwardly moving stabilizers within the pre-drilled hole in the jawbone to secure the dental implant with a tight friction fit to the bone structure.